Gremlins III
by Ilteren
Summary: Twenty years after the Kingston Falls incident, Billy and Gizmo return home.
1. Chapter 1

GREMLINS

**GREMLINS**

**3**

**By Ilteren**

Prologue

"Everybody has a story to tell, I'm no different, though my story may be a little weirder than most. You may have already heard my father's story; my story takes place twenty one years later."

It all began in China Town, but it led to the destruction of my small town, Kingston Falls. By the end, the theatre had blown up, the bank was ransacked, the whole town was in ruins, even Kate's Bar burned down, but all of that is another story entirely.

My story deals with Gizmo, let me tell you about Gizmo. Gizmo is a mogwai, what is a mogwai you ask, good question really, haven't figured that out yet I can tell you what Gizmo looks like. He's small, about the size of a basketball, basic human shape but furry. He has brown and white fur and fleshy ears and hands. Big expressive eyes and a rounded mouth make him excruciatingly cute. You would never guess by looking at him that he could be the cause of so much trouble. Now before I get on with the story let me fill you in on the ground rules for mogwai, they are very important.

1. They hate bright light, it hurts them and direct sunlight will kill them.

2. Don't get them wet. Don't give them a bath; don't even give them water to drink. Water makes them multiply and you won't like the results.

3. The most important. Don't ever, ever feed them after midnight. No matter how much they scream, no matter how much they beg. If a mogwai eats after midnight it will change, transform, into something wholly mischievous and evil, a Gremlin.

Gremlins can be anywhere from two to four feet tall, they are black and green and covered with scales. They have long pointed ears and their mouths are full of razor sharp teeth. Deadly claws are attached to long limbs. They are swift, agile, curiously strong and vicious. They love to cause mayhem, and tamper with anything mechanical or electrical. Now about twenty one years after our first encounter with gremlins, I'm back in Kingston Falls. That's where my story begins.

"Billy, Hon, can you help me with this luggage" yelled Kate as she tried to haul in two large overstuffed duffle bags by herself.

"Sure, Babe" came the reply. Billy ran up to her and grabbed one of the bags. "Sorry about that, dad has been asking a lot of questions, like where are we gonna sleep and where are we gonna put our stuff."

"Well I don't blame him for being a little worried; his life has just been turned upside down. He must be going through hell after losing your mother." They put the bags in the living room and start back toward the car for more luggage.

"Yeah, but he seems more that just worried. He doesn't let on but I think having Gizmo back in the house is really bothering him."

"It bothers me too, it always has."

"I know, but we've taken care of him for this long. I like to think we've become sort of experts at it." he said.

"Yeah but it only takes one small accident, one stray drop of water to make things go from bad to worse." she scolded

"But we can't get rid of him!" he cried.

"Of course we can't get rid of him. He's safer with us than with anybody else. But also I've grown attached to him, no matter how much he scares me I love the little guy." They dropped another pair of bags in the living room floor when Rand Peltzer, Billy's father came in carrying Gizmo.

"I can't believe how much I missed this little fella" he said as he poked and tickled gizmo. Like Billy and Kate, Rand had aged. He had more than a few wrinkles and his neck sagged; he also sported a full head of gray hair. Gizmo on the other hand had not aged a day and was still as cute as ever.

"Hi Billy" squeaked Gizmo.

"Hi, Buddy. Are you having fun with Dad?" Gizmo nodded emphatically.

"Hey Dad, I was thinking me and Kate would just move into my old room in the attic, that way there's no need to bother your room or the study."

"Sounds good to me. Hey did I show you my new invention? I started working on it when I realized you were coming back." Rand rushed to his study and came back holding something behind his back He then revealed to them a large hollow plastic ball. "Ta-da, I got the idea from the smaller ones they make for hamsters. This one is made from a special plastic that won't let harmful sun rays through."

"Ah cool Dad he's gonna love this."

"I don't get it" Kate said.

"It's for Gizmo, babe. With this he's gonna be able to run around outside without worrying about sunlight."

"Oh, cool." "It's also waterproof in case of any accident." Rand explained.

"Uh, Dad. If it's waterproof doesn't that mean it's also airproof?" Billy said. Rand responded to this question with dumbfounded silence, a "deer in headlights" expression on his face.

Just then there was a knock at the door, everybody turned to see who it was because the door was still open. In the doorway stood an Asian man of about thirty two. He wore a business suit and carried a briefcase in one hand. He stood there a moment staring in awe at Gizmo.

"Can I help you" asked Billy. The Asian man came to and apologized.

"Excuse me; I just never expected to see Gizmo again."

It was Billy's turn to be confused, how did this man know Gizmo?

"Who are you?" Billy asked.

"I am Jonathan Tao, Gizmo there used to belong to my Uncle." At this a spark of recognition crossed Rand's face, he quickly introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Rand Peltzer; I believe we've met before?"

"Yes, I remember. You're the man I sold Gizmo to; I was not very wise back then." "What are you doing here?" asked Rand.

"Well in a way my visit concerns Gizmo."

"You don't want him back do you?" questioned Billy.

"No, in fact I believed him to be dead from that accident in New York until I saw him here," But no I do not wish for the responsibility of taking care of him."

"So then, what?"

Jonathan set his briefcase down and opened it.

"Before my uncle died he entrusted me with a wealth of information regarding the mogwai and their offspring. After the accident here Gizmo would stop talking about you, so my uncle told me that if I should ever find you I should pass this information to you because you are the one person he believed who could handle it"

Jonathan handed Billy a large binded book, on the cover were letters unrecognizable by the group.

"How am I supposed to read it, I don't know this language." Billy observed.

"My uncle had the foresight to prepare notes for you."

He handed Billy a stack of papers five inches thick. Billy's arms sagged under the combined weight.

"It will take me months to go through all this."

"Then I suggest you get started; only knowledge will avail you when caring for a mogwai. As for me, I have to leave. I have important business to attend to. I wish you good luck on your ventures, goodbye." Jonathan yelled as he rushes out the door leaving them all standing bewildered.


	2. Chapter 2

GREMLINS

The Futterman's house was bigger than what it used to be. New additions, now years old, could be told apart from the old original framework. After gremlins drove his tractor through his front door, Murray Futterman decided it was time for some remodeling anyway. Murray had also lost his wife, also tragically to cancer. Because of their similar experiences and losses, Rand and Murray quickly became friends. Billy now found himself and Gizmo sitting in Mr. Futterman's den listening to the two elderly men ramble on about "old times".

"I remember my first date at that movie house, we saw King Kong. I was more excited with the WWI bi-planes at the end of the movie than I was with my date. Murray laughed "It's a shame that it's gone now, you sure you had to destroy it Billy?"

"I'm sure Mr. Futterman; I don't think I had a choice in the matter.

"Oh well, what's past is past. I'll tell you what thought, it's good seeing this little ball of fluff again." He said as he playfully poked Gizmo. "Just so long as there ain't any more trouble poppin' out of 'em.

"There won't be, Billy has got a good handle on the situation now, don't you Billy?" Rand asked.

"Rest assured, Mr. Futterman," Billy said, "No more little green monsters."

Billy carried Gizmo out to the car in his backpack since there was still some daylight peaking through the evening clouds. Mr. Futterman followed them out to the car. As Billy got in Murray chimed in with

"And if you're ever in trouble, Billy, come to me, I've been making sure those bastards don't get the drop on me again."

"Whatever you say Mr. Futterman, we'll see you next week."

"Bye, Murray," Rand yelled.

Bye guys" Murray yelled as they drove away.

They met up with Kate back at home. Kate had just gotten back from shopping when the guys pulled up. She was excited to show off a new toy she got for Gizmo.

"It's a video game, Gizmo. See, you use this stick to touch the screen and you can play games. Cool, huh?" Kate said as she tried to show Gizmo how it worked.

He was soon fully addicted to it. They all laughed as they watched him get upset after losing a game. Soon they were all off to bed, but Gizmo was restless, he still wanted to play with his new toy. He got up and went downstairs to get his game. He was standing on the dinner table about to play when the front door slowly opened. Three shadowy figures slipped inside and started piling stuff into bags. One of them stopped cold when he notices Gizmo.

"What the hell," he half whispered.

Back in the bedroom Kate woke Billy up.

"Did you hear something?" she asked. Billy looked up and noticed gizmo was gone. He got up and went downstairs thinking it was probably nothing, just Gizmo wanting to play his game on the table.

"Hey!" He shouted. But the closest one had already grabbed Gizmo and thrown him into a bag. They were gone out the door in seconds. Billy ran after them but lost sight of them in the night.

"Damn!" he breathed.

The basement of the old burnt down bar was dark and damp. The bar above had been long gone, a storage facility now sitting in its place. They come in fuming.

"What the hell man? We've been scouting that place for weeks and now it's blown because of some stinking pet, where did that thing come from anyway?" one said.

"Hell if I know, Buck was supposed to be doing the scoutin'." another replied.

"Well what the hell are we supposed to do now? It's not like we can try to rob the place again." the first one said.

"Of course not you idiot" the second replied again.

"Hey guys look what I got." said the one called Buck as he held up Gizmo by the ears. "Hey Fred, maybe we can put that up for ransom," said the first.

"Boy, you really are stupid. Tell me, Derek, when did we go from petty thieves to kidnappers? Said Fred.

"I'm just sayin'.. Ah, you ain't sayin' nothing'. We need to sleep on this, give that thing some water for the night and let's go." As the other two left Buck filled a bowl up with water and slid it towards Gizmo. The water thrashed about and some of it spilled onto the floor, the puddle covered Gizmo's feet and he started to panic and scream. Buck hesitated for a second then shrugged his shoulders and ran to catch up with the other two.

Late at night there was a knock at Murray Futterman's door. Murray opened one eye and peeked at the clock, 1:30 ,

"What the hell?" he thought.

He got up and put his robe on and slowly made his way to the door, Knock Knock Knock…

"Hold on, hold on," he yelled. He opened the door and was shocked to see Billy and Rand standing there.

"Mr. Futterman we need your help, something has happened to Gizmo."

Gizmo rolled and pounded on the floor in pain and agony. He knew what was happening and he also knew it would only get worse. His back felt like it had been torn open then melted away. The first pop came, Gizmo flinched in fear more that pain, though it hurt like hell. Then the second pop, followed by three consecutive fast pops. The tiny balls of fur landed around Gizmo in a semi-circle. The fur balls gulped and sloshed, sounding as if they were making a feast of the drops of water that spawned them, growing steadily bigger. The first one stood, it had black fur and pointy ears. All over its body there rose spikes of white hair. The second one stood, it had black skin and dark brown fur except for on his chin where a twisted goatee of white hair protruded. The last three all stood at the same time, all had black fur except for the hair on their faces which took shape of sideburns, mutton chops , and a wild Fu-man-chu mustache. They quickly advanced on Gizmo and had him surrounded. Goatee sniffed the air, his attention was drawn to a cooler in the corner of the room. He left and quickly came back, his arms full of chips and sodas. They formed a tight circle around gizmo and feasted, they would not allow him to pass. Gizmo shivered in terror as he watched, he knew it wouldn't be long before he was surrounded by cocoons.


	3. Chapter 3

GREMLINS

Murray Futterman walked quickly to his rec room, Billy and Rand following closely behind.

"And how long has he been gone?" he asked.

"About an hour, it was midnight when he was taken." answered Billy.

"We might be ok if we can find him, unless these morons try to feed him or give him water or something."

Rand observed "Well I've made sure I'm ready if anything happens." Murray said as he pulled a large metal case from a cabinet. "I trust both of you have experience in small arms."

"I do, replied Rand."

"I've never held a gun in my life." came Billy's answer.

"Well you're about to, here." Murray handed Billy a small Glock 9mm and as extra clip. "You get rubber bullets Billy, I don't know if you can handle live ammo yet." explained Murray.

"Will it be enough?"

" Depending on your aim, a shot to the head should knock one out."

"Okay"

"Here Rand, I know you'll like this."

Murray handed Rand an old wild west .38 Revolver and a handful of ammo.

"Oh yeah, good times!" exclaimed Rand.

"As for me, I've got Betty."

Murray pulled out one last large box.

"Betty?" asked Billy.

"Colt .45 1911, I've had her since Nam, she's seen me through a lot of shit." explained Futterman.

Next he went to a utility chest in the corner, He talked as he handed out flashlights.

"Even if something bad has happened I doubt we'll see any action tonight. It takes them about twenty four hours to change right?"

"About."

"Well then, if bad things move quickly then we don't have anything major to worry about until tomorrow night."

They all finished preparing and started to leave.

"We should start back at the house, they might have left something behind." Rand said.

"Maybe, but we know which direction they were headed, right Billy?" asked Murray.

"Yeah, they ran directly toward town."

"Let me make some calls, I think I have a good idea of where they're at. You guys go home and get some rest, I have a feeling that hard times are ahead of us."

"What? You mean we aren't going now?" I'm not gonna feel right sitting on my ass while who knows what is happening to Gizmo."

"Take it easy Billy rushing off half cocked isn't going to help anybody. Go get some rest, tomorrow we'll have all the information we need to help Gizmo."

Gizmo huddled in the corner, terrified. The other mogwai had fallen unconscious in different places around the room. When Gizmo was convinced that they were not going to wakeup he walked up to them. Their ears were covering their eyes and they felt slimy. Gizmo recognized it as the beginning of the pupil stage, soon they would be gremlins.

Gizmo started searching the room for something he could use against them, but he was unable to find anything. He also realized that he was stuck in here. There was no visible way out except for a steel trap door in the ceiling, which was too heavy for him to lift by himself. He finally settled back down in the corner, all there was to do then was wait.

Billy laid back in his bed. He knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight, not with his best friend missing. Kate walked in, she was wearing a robe and a towel was wrapped around her head. She had just gotten out of the shower.

"I talked to Mr. Clamp today, honey." She said.

"Oh yeah, what did he have to say?" asked Billy.

"Well, he very quickly congratulated us on the move and the pregnancy. Told us we could take as much time off as needed. Then he started to rant and ramble on something to do with satellites and the prolonged happiness of the residents of Clamp Corners. I sort of zoned out through that part." She admitted.

"Clamp Corners." Billy thought. It was Mr. Clamp's venture to try and capitalize on small town living. Billy inadvertently gave him the idea when Mr. Clamp saw a painting of Kingston Falls that he had done. But Clamp was too much of a techno-capitalist to keep things small. Almost every day the company would get complaints from the residents at Clamp Corners that something was going haywire or glitching in one of the towns "Homes of the future".

"Hey babe, we really need to talk." Billy said

"Uh oh, that never leads to a good conversation." She sat down on the bed.

"When we go out to find Gizmo tomorrow, I want you to be ready to get out of here." If worse come to worse you don't need to be here." he said

"I'm not going to abandon you, I've fought those things just as much as you have. If things do go bad I can help." she reasoned.

"It's too dangerous, honey. It's not just you anymore, it's the baby too. Promise me that you'll get out of here at the slightest hint of trouble."

"Ok, I promise."


	4. Chapter 4

GREMLINS

Kate woke up and was surprised to find Billy at his desk pouring over the book and notes he had been given by John Tao.

"Morning honey. Hey this stuff is really interesting. I'm sorry I didn't start reading it earlier. Did you ever guess how old Gizmo is?"

"No ", she said groggily, indifferent to his wired state.

"Well according to these notes, he could be over a thousand years old." She awoke at this

"Really?"

"Yeah, really, it's amazing!"

Kate closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. She stirred when she felt a presence hovering over her. Billy was standing over her, book and notes in hand.

"Hey, what do you make of this?" He showed her a picture in the book and some notes.

The picture was of a Gremlin with an arrow next to it pointing to a Mogwai, and the notes said "Mogwai-Iawgom-Reverse/use "Kama" of Bean."

She sat straight up in bed and looked at the picture closely.

"I think it means the transformation can be reversed."

"That would be useful."

"Yeah, but what does this mean "Kama" of Bean?"

"Hold on , let me check." Billy grabbed another stack of papers, he flipped thought them until he found what he was looking for.

"As far as I can tell "Kama" means "Curd".

"Curd of Bean." What the hell is that?"

"I don't know." Billy spent most of that day studying the book and notes until he was so tired he couldn't stay up any longer. It seemed as soon as he laid his head down there was a knock at the door. It was Rand.

"Murray just called, he thinks he knows where Gizmo is at, and he wants us to meet him at his house in an hour."

"What time is it?"

"10 pm., get ready, I have a feeling we've got a long night ahead of us."

Buck, Derek and Fred entered the storage room. Derek reached above his head and turned the light on. A dim yellowish glow filled the empty room.

"So it's settled. We're just gonna leave the damn thing on their doorstep, knock, and run." said Fred.

"Yeah I guess, but I don't like it. We wouldn't even have this problem if Buck hadn't snatched it in the first place." Derek said ,as he opened the steel trap door that was hidden in the back corner of the room. They continued to argue as they headed down the stairs into the basement.

"Holy Shit!" Fred yelped.

Derek lost his balance and tumbled down the stairs. He hit the cold concrete floor and landed on his stomach. He swore under his breath, opened his eyes and froze. Just inches from his face was a large egg shaped….thing. Derek's curiosity got the better of him and he moved his arm to touch it.

"What is it Derek?" asked Buck Derek ran his fingers across the outside. It felt slimy. When he pulled his hands away trails of mucous stuck to his fingertips.

"Ugh!" A large, scaly, clawed hand burst through and grabbed Derek's face. The cocoon burst open, out of it stood Spike the Gremlin. Spike was now three feet tall and dark green. The puffed white spikes of hair that once covered his body had been replaced by long black bony spikes. A tail swung slowly behind him, a single curved spike sticking out of the end. Fred and Buck screamed and turned to run back up the stairs. At the top stood Goatee, blocking their path. Goatee stood four feet tall, the tallest of the gremlins.

His scales were pitch black, and the facial hair that had been his name sake was now two large, twisted, white bones. Goatee laughed and shut the steel door behind him. Gizmo watched in terror from the dark corner, he was hidden for now.

Billy and Rand pulled up to Murray's house. They got out of the car and started toward the front door.

"Hey dad, have you ever heard of Curd of Bean?"

"What?"

"Curd of Bean." "The Mogwai book says it has the power to change a gremlin back into a mogwai."

"That would be useful, but I have no idea what "Curd of Bean" is."

Rand knocked on the door, Murray answered seconds later.

"I'll be just a minute, I have a few last minute preparations." Murray said.

"What have you been doing all day?" Billy asked.

"Gathering information, making preparations, plans."

They followed him into his Rec room.

"Plans for what?"

Futterman pulled a tactical shotgun off a rack and started looking at it.

"First two rounds are bean bags, third is double ought buck shot, and last is a slug."

Murray then showed them a small gun he had strapped to his side.

"This is a tranq gun, should be enough to put one out for a day or two.

You ask me "Plans for what?", I say plans for finally proving to everybody that I'm not crazy. If I can take one of theses things alive, I'm going to do it."

Billy refrained from calling him crazy and just nodded.

"Well I'm ready." Futterman said as he finished loading the shotgun.

"I hope both of you still have the guns I gave you earlier."

They nodded.

"Good, then let's get going."


	5. Chapter 5

GREMLINS

The other gremlins were only two to two and a half feet tall, and they maintained their facial hair. They had ganged up on Buck while Goatee and Spike took the other two humans. The fight, if you could call it that, was over. The slaughtered bodies of the thieves lay mangled on the floor. At one point Derek took a big swing at the head of Spike, but Spike dodged and Derek impaled his fist on Spike's shoulder. Spike then jabbed Derek in the chest with the spike on his tail, at this Derek coughed up blood, fell over and went into convulsions. A minute later his body lay still. Now Goatee was going to get the steel hatch open when Spike found Gizmo. He carried Gizmo with one hand over to the dead bodies. Spike grabbed a candy bar from Mutton Chop, who had looted it from one of the bodies. He pinched the back of Gizmos neck, which made Gizmo cry out in pain, and then he shoved the candy bar into Gizmos mouth.

"Last night when you told me that the thieves were running into town I thought of Kate's old bar." Murray said.

"Why?" Billy asked.

"It had a basement. I went down there to sleep sometimes when I got really drunk." He explained.

"Well I found out that there are storage houses there now, and after some digging and phone calls I found out that one was accessed late last night at about 12:30. The kind of thieves that pull a job like that always have a hideout they fall back to in case of trouble. I also found out the unit that was accessed last night is the only one that has a metal floor."

"You think that basement is still there?" Rand asked Murray.

"Yeah and I'll bet my tractor that's where Gizmo is at now."

They were heading there now, each had his hopes that everything would be ok, even Murray. Even though Murray had his plans for proving himself sane, he didn't want to confront those old demons again if he didn't have to.

Gizmo felt himself slowly losing consciousness. He had had so many nightmares of this happening, and now it was. The gremlins weren't paying attention to him now, they were filing out the trap door one by one and into the storage unit above. Gizmo moaned, there was nothing he could do now. He curled up into a ball, put his ears over his eyes, and let sleep take over him.

Murray led them to a storage unit in the back of the facility.

"I hope he didn't get wet." Billy said.

"No sense in worrying just yet, Son. We don't know anything for sure."

They approached the unit, the gate was already open.

"OK, this is not a good sign, but it's still no cause to worry." Rand said.

Futterman went in first, he went to the back of the small room.

"There's a hatch back here." he yelled.

The others came to him and they shined their flashlights down the hole. They stared in silent horror at the scene below them. Three dead bodies, and five hatched cocoons. Futterman was the first to break the silence.

"Now you can worry."

Billy still didn't say anything, he let his light roam across the room from above until it passed over something in the corner that twitched with the light.

"Gizmo!", Billy yelled as he jumped down into the basement. The others followed in after him, Billy was crouching over the unconscious Gizmo.

"He's slimy, I think he's eaten after midnight." Billy said.

"Why would he do that?" asked Rand.

"He probably didn't have a choice. These five gremlins are probably still close by." Billy explained.

"Well let's go get 'em then." Futterman said.

"What about Gizmo? We can't leave him like that." Rand said.

"We need Curd of Bean Billy said.

Murray looked at him like he was stupid.

"What?"

"Curd of Bean, It's supposed to be able to reverse a Gremlin back to a Mogwai."

"That's great, but don't you mean Bean Curd?"

"Bean Curd?"

"Yeah, Bean Curd. It's Tofu."

"Tofu, you've got to be kidding me."

"Nope, I usually have a lot of the stuff, but I just ran out yesterday." Futterman said.

"We can get it at the grocery store?" Billy asked.

"Yeah,"

"Then let's get going. If I can give it to Gizmo before he hatches, I'm going to."

Billy picked up Gizmo and put him in his backpack. They left the basement and headed for the truck. Something shot past Murray's shoulder.

"What the hell was that?" he yelped.

Another hit the truck next to them. They looked in the direction it came from. Across the street standing on top of a car that was parked in front of the hardware store, stood Spike and he was leveling a nail gun right at Rand's head.

"Duck!" Yelled Billy.

"Gremlin!" Yelled Futterman.

"Shit!" Yelled Rand.

They hit the ground at the same time.

"Get to the truck, quick!"

They scrambled for the truck as Spike let loose with a barrage of nails.

They all got in and Murray turned the ignition….nothing.

"It won't start? It always starts! It's American made!" Murray protested.

From behind them they heard an engine roar to life. They turned and it was Goatee at the controls of a steamroller, already halfway across the street and headed towards them fast. Murray tried to start the truck again. A hand burst through the hood of the truck, its long claws clutching at wires.

"Shit! Get out!" Yelled Murray.

They piled out just as Goatee reached in the truck. The steamroller hit the back of the truck and slowed. Goatee adjusted something and it slowly started to crush the vehicle. Billy aimed and shot at Goatee. One of the rubber bullets struck him in the side and sent him flying, but the steamroller kept going. Goatee hit the ground fifteen feet away from the truck, he got up shakily and ran off.

The nail gun firing has stopped. Across the street they saw Spike, Side Burn, and Fu-man-chu run into the hardware store.

"You guys head for the grocery and help Gizmo, I'll take care of the hardware store." Murray said.

"No way, it's too dangerous. I'm coming with you." Rand said.

"No you're not, Rand. You're gonna go help Billy make sure Gizmo doesn't change into one of those things. I can handle this by myself."

Rand began to protest but Murray was already walking toward the hardware store. Rand turned to Billy , "Come on, the sooner we can get Gizmo that tofu the better."


	6. Chapter 6

GREMLINS

Billy and Rand walked toward the grocery store down the road.

"What are we going to do if they get wet?" Billy asked.

"We'll deal with that when we come to it. We saw three of them go into the hardware store, and there were five cocoons. That leaves two unaccounted for and they've got the town to themselves tonight. We don't even know where to start looking for them. The best thing we can do right now is help Gizmo." Rand said.

"I need to warn Kate, tell her to get out of town." Billy reached in his pockets, he looked confused, then searched his backpack, and then realization showed on his face.

"Damn!" Billy swore.

"What?"

"I left my phone in the truck."

"Don't worry, she should be safe for a little while at least, there's no reason for the gremlins to head to the house." Rand said.

Murray approached the hardware store. Betty, his Colt 45, ready at his side. The glass of the automatic door had been broken, he stepped through. The store inside was dark and abandoned. Nothing in town was open this late. He walked slowly, surveying his surroundings..

A ceiling fan fell in one part of the store. He looked to the rafters above and spotted fu-man-chu. Fu jumped down straight at him. Murray aimed Betty and fired at the falling target. Fu exploded into tiny bits that were sent hurdling back toward the rafters.

"One down, two to…"

Something struck Murray's hand and he dropped Betty. He looked up and saw Spike standing a few yards away from him.

"Ok you son of a …"

He pulled his shotgun and fired the first bean bag. It caught Spike directly in the chest and sent him flying toward the back of the store.

Billy and Rand pried the automatic doors of the closed grocery store open.

"Where do we start looking? I've never bought tofu in my life." Billy asked.

"I'm not sure. I think they make those fake hamburger patties from it, so we can start by looking in the frozen food section." Rand said.

They passed the isle until Rand made Billy stop.

"Shh, be quiet."

He motioned for Billy to look around the corner of the next isle.

Billy saw Goatee, his back to them, drinking a large bottle of Tabasco sauce. He let the bottle drop and breathed a cloud of smoke, he looked like some kind of medieval dragon.

"Come on Billy" Rand whispered.

"We'll deal with him later."

Murray made his way to the back of the store. He had left Betty, his gun, behind. He was kicking himself because of it, now he only had his shotgun and tranq gun. He wouldn't go back for Betty he decided. If the bean bag had knocked Spike out Murray needed to get to him fast before he woke up. Murray saw something move out of the corner of his eye.

He jumped back just in time to dodge a heavy hit from a large snow shovel in the hands of Spike standing on a counter to his right. Murray fired the shotgun but Spike caught all of the buckshot on the shovel, effectively protecting himself. Side-Burn came up from behind and busted a large floodlight on Murray's back. Murray yelled and turned and blasted Side-Burn with the slug. Side-Burn exploded giving that area a new paint job. When Murray turned back Spike was gone.

"Damn!" He yelled. His shotgun was out of ammo, he needed to go get Betty back. He headed back to the front of the store.

Billy and Rand were walking down the frozen food aisle, Rand stopped Billy.

"Here" Rand said, opening a door and pulling out a box of burgers. Billy took Gizmo out of his backpack while Rand took a tofu patty in one hand and Gizmo's cocoon in the other.

"Ok, how am I supposed to get this", he raised the frozen patty, "into this"

He raised the cocoon then tapped the two items together.

"We need a blender." Rand said .

"And a syringe" Billy added.

"Hold on," Rand said as he turned Billy around and pulled something from his backpack

"This will work," Rand said in his hand he held a tiny cylinder filled with a yellow liquid.

"What is it?" Billy asked, staring at the object, it didn't look like a syringe, more like a pen.

"It's and Epi-pen, that liquid is Epinephrine.

It's basically a shot of adrenaline." Rand explained.

"You need that?" Billy asked.

"Sometimes, but I should be Ok for a while."

"Ok, well, we need to empty it." Billy said.

Rand held the pen up and jabbed it into Billie's chest."Ugh, dad, what the hell?"

"Don't worry , it won't hurt ya. It'll just make you hyper for a little while."

"Ok, but still you could have warned me, that stung!" Billy whined.

"Oh poor baby, you'll get over it. Now let's find that blender. There has to be one somewhere in this store.

Murray stooped to pick up Betty. She had slid under a rack of hammers, her muzzle was just barely visible, peeking out under the shelves. Murray bent and reached for her. From the other side Spikes hand appeared and scratched Murray's hand. Murray pulled back in pain and Spike grabbed Betty

"No!" he yelled.

The shelves exploded as the shot came from the other side. Murray ran as he pulled the tranq-gun from his belt. It was his last chance. He knew that Spike had only five shots left. He jumped behind a lawn mower and turned. He saw Spike standing in the middle of the aisle across from him. Spike shot two more times, both shots hit the lawn mower. Murray aimed carefully and fired the tranquilizer dart. It hit Spike in the neck, a perfect shot. Spike pulled it out and kept coming at Murray, showing no effects from the dart. Spike shot again , this time the bullet got Murray's ear. He winced in pain and felt his ear. He looked at his hand and saw the blood. Spike was only a few feet away now, close enough where if he fired again he wouldn't miss. Spike leveled the gun on Murray's head. Murray was about to leap to the side when Spike suddenly fell over stiff. Murray looked at him wearily. Apparently the tranq had finally kicked in.

Murray got up and approached the fallen gremlin. First things first he thought, he bent and reached for Betty. Next he tried to move Spike. He cursed for not having thought to bring something to transport a captured Gremlin in. Spike was heavy, probably close to a hundred pounds. Murray grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him, careful not to catch himself on any of the Gremlins spikes.

He decided he would head for the grocery store to see if Billy and Rand needed any help.

"Whoa, Dad. I think this stuff is really affecting me." Billy said.

"Let me see".

Rand grabbed Billie's wrist and checked his pulse.

"Yeah, your heart is pumpin' pretty fast. You could probably run twenty miles right now."

They were headed for the bakery, Billy thought that there might be a blender there. Billy glimpsed out of the corner of his eye, something had made him do a double-take.

"Dad, look at this." He held up a blue bottle , Rand read the label out loud.

"Half & Half non -dairy creamer… New blend, TOFU! What the hell?"

"Will it work?" Billy asked.

"I'm skeptical, read the ingredients." Billy turned the bottle around.

"Bean curd extract, it should work." Billy said.

"Alright let me see it."

Rand filled the Epi-Pen with the bizarre liquid while Billy took Gizmo's Cocoon from his backpack.

"Ok, hold it up." Rand said

Billy raised the cocoon and Rand injected the Tofu creamer into it.


	7. Chapter 7

GREMLINS

Goatee finished drinking another bottle of hot sauce and tossed the bottle over his shoulder. He reached for another one. This time he grabbed a bottle that had it's label adorned by red hot flames, it read, "Desert Jack's Super Hot Habenero Hot Sauce".

Goatee broke the top and drank a little. He stopped and belched a small puff of flame. He liked this stuff. He heard voices and peered around the corner. Across the aisle Billy and Rand were doing something to a cocoon. Goatee recognized it as Gizmo's cocoon. Their back was turned to him, he slowly snuck up behind them, chugging the rest of the hot sauce. He got up behind Billy and let a long sustained fiery burp.

Billy jumped and dropped the cocoon, Goatee snatched it up and started to run off. Rand pulled his gun and fired.

"No! Don't shoot, you might hit Gizmo," Billy said as he patted himself down making sure he wasn't on fire. Billy ran after Goatee, trying to head him off. Billy cut across a hallway and managed to get in front of him. Goatee was headed toward him like a linebacker, Gizmo's Cocoon tucked under one arm like a football. Goatee was by far the largest Gremlin Billy had ever seen, at least four feet tall, Billy thought. Billy crouched and tried to tackle Goatee, but Goatee jumped over him and scratched his back. The adrenaline still surging through Billy , he turned and grabbed Goatee by the ankle, tripping him. Goatee turned and punched Billy in the face, Billy punched back. Goatee scratched Billy's hand and Billy let go.

Goatee got up and grabbed the cocoon and started running again.

"Use your gun!" Rand yelled to Billy.

Billy pulled his gun, he had forgotten that he only had rubber bullets. He didn't know how tough the cocoon was and if it could withstand a rubber bullet, but this was his last chance. Laying on his stomach, Billy aimed and fired six times, each shot missed Goatee. Now Rand was beside Billy.

"I can't aim straight Dad. There's one shot left , you have to get him before he gets away."

Rand took the gun. Goatee was headed for a large ventilation shaft where the wall met the ceiling. Rand fired, the bullet hit Goatee in the back and sent him tumbling into the shaft. The cocoon fell out of his hands and fell to the floor with a thud.

"Gizmo!" Billy yelled and ran over to the cocoon, Rand came up beside him.

"Is it ok?" Rand asked.

"Looks like it" Billy answered.

"But we won't know until he hatches. Lets go see how Mr. Futterman is doing."

As they walked out the front doors of the grocery store Murray was coming toward them, Spike in tow.

"You actually got one, I don't believe it!" Billy yelled as they approached.

"Yep, I tell ya it was a close call though." Murray said.

"Did ya help Gizmo?" Murray asked.

"We think so." Rand said.

Billy pulled Gizmo from his pack.

"Whoa, Is that what I think it is?" Murray yelled. Everybody was taken aback.

Billy held in his hand a furry cocoon.

"Oh man it looks exactly like Gizmo's fur, it's like a Gizmo ball." Rand said.

"I wonder how much longer it will be before he hatches?" Billy said.

"I don't know, Rand said. "But it ain't no use standin' out here waiting, let's get back to the house. We still have to warn Kate.

Kate was wide awake , despite the hour. She checked the clock for the third time in thirty minutes, almost two o'clock. "If they had found Gizmo o.k. and everything was fine they would have been back by now." she thought. "But if anything were really wrong Billy would have called me by now." she conceded to herself. There was nothing she could do but wait, she thought about leaving now and getting a hotel out of town, at least until she found out what was going on, but she decided against it, thinking to herself that most likely nothing was happening and nothing would happen. She would be wrong. Just then the power went out and she heard a window at the back of the house shatter. She rushed to the living room and grabbed a flashlight off the end table. Next she went to the wall by the front door and pulled one of the swords hanging on the wall there. She was going to the laundry room and the breaker box that was there. She remembered Rand telling her that they installed backup power for the house, all you needed to do was flip a switch. She turned a corner and stopped in her tracks. Standing in front of the dryer was Mutton Chop. The dryer behind him was open and he was wearing one of her nightgowns. He saw her and opened the nightgown flashing her. She shined the flashlight on him and took a wild swing at him with the sword. He dodged and scrambled back from the light. She caught him off guard and kicked him into the open dryer.

She slammed it shut and was quick to place a heavy chair in front of the round glass door. Mutton Chop screamed and pounded inside trying to break free. She went to the breaker box on the wall and flipped the switch marked AUX. The power came back on with a start. The bright light inside the dryer came on and the load of laundry she had been doing started to tumble, along with Mutton Chop. The spinning of the dryer sped up, the racket the bouncing gremlin made was tremendous. The banging and the screaming should have waken up the dead. Soon the screaming stopped and then the crashing, though the dryer was still gong. She removed the chair and opened the door. Inside there was a sloshing puddle of ooze, and it was covering all their laundry.

"That was my favorite nightgown, damnit." she said.

She heard the front door open and went to see who, or what, it was.

Billy, Rand and Murray came in through the front door. Billy could already tell that something was wrong. Kate came into the room and greeted them.

"Hey Babe" she said.

Billy looked at the, she was breathing hard and was carrying a sword.

"Hey honey. Watch ya been doin'?" he asked.

"Oh nothing much. I did a load of laundry, read a book, killed a gremlin. You know, the usual." she answered sarcastically.

She turned to Murray,

"Hi Mr. Futt….

"Whoa! She screamed as she saw what Murray was hauling behind him.

"What the hell?, Is it dead?"

"No, he's alive. But don't worry , he won't be causing any trouble. He's out."

Murray answered.

Kate studied them for a second.

"Hey where's Gizmo? Did you forget him? Is he ok.?" she asked.

Billy hesitated.

"Um, kinda." He pulled the furry cocoon from his backpack and showed Kate. She stared at it in confused disbelief.

"Ok, you guys are going to have to start from the beginning."


	8. Chapter 8

GREMLINS

First Billy made Kate explain what she meant by "killed a gremlin".

Then they recounted their story up to when they split up. Billy and Rand told their side first and when they were done Mr. Futterman told of he adventure in the hardware store.

"So you got all of them, then?" Kate asked.

"There were only five cocoons in the basement, right?"

"Yeah, but I shot the one in the grocery store with a rubber bullet. That one had survived a shot from those before." Rand said.

"Which means it's still not safe here." Billy said.

"You should get out of town babe. At least until we make sure that one is dead."

"Okay." she said.

"And as for this one." chimed in Murray. "I'm questioning whether capturing it was a good idea or not. I don't really have any secure was of holding it. Maybe I should just kill it."

At this the body laying at Murray's feet twitched. Everybody jumped back and yelled.

"Shit! Is that thing completely out, Murray?" Rand asked, breathing heavily.

"Damnit! Yeah, I put an elephant tranquilizer in the damn thing! It's probably just having a bad dream. Spike jumped up and wrapped himself around Murray pinning his arms. Spike looked him straight in the eye.

In an instant the spikes that covered the gremlins body extended, impaling Murray, and then retracted. Spike jumped off and Murray fell to the ground dead. Billy and Rand were pulling their guns when Spike grabbed Gizmo's cocoon.

"Damnit! Don't shoot" yelled Billy.

Spike stood there, blocked between the wall and the people, unsure of what to do. A large furred, clawed hand burst through the cocoon and fell to the ground.

Everybody watched silently as Gizmo emerged.

"Holy Shit!" exclaimed Billy.

"Gizmo?".

Out of the cocoon emerged a three and a half foot tall gremlin. But this was no ordinary gremlin. Fur poked out from behind the scales and the ears were those of a mogwai. Billy could tell it was Gizmo, the fur was the same brown and white, and the eyes were the same , except that now they carried a load of anger. Gizmo was pissed.

"Must be a new breed." Rand said.

Gizmo walked over to Spike and picked him up with one hand. Spike clawed and hissed at Gizmo. Gizmo dropped him and kicked him hard in the side. Spike slid across the floor and hit the wall, he quickly jumped up and rushed at Gizmo. Spike tackled Gizmo , they traded punches and kicks, rolling around on the ground.

"What did you guys give Gizmo?" Kate asked.

Billy, watching the fight intently, remained silent and pulled the bottle they got from the grocery store from his bag, he handed it to Kate.

"Tofu Non-dairy creamer."

She looked at Gizmo then back at the bottle.

"Half & Half." She paused, watching the fight.

"That's not in the book."

Gizmo and Spike wailed on each other. Gizmo grabbed Spike around the chest with both hands, pinning his arms down. Spikes tail slashed over both shoulders, trying to stab Gizmo. Gizmo managed to grab Spike's tail, he turned and flung Spike through the wall and into the kitchen on the other side.

Gizmo ran into the kitchen, Billy and the rest followed. In the kitchen Spike was standing by a butcher's block of knives, he picked them up and started hurling them at the door. Billy got caught in the shoulder with one. He quickly closed the door and turned to the others.

"You don't want to go in there."

"But we have to help Gizmo." Kate pleaded.

"Let's wait until he runs out of ammo." Rand said.

After a minute Billy peeked his head in., a jet of water flew by his head.

"Oh, Shit!" he yelled.

Billy flung the door open. On top of the sink Spike was using the sprayer to try and wet Gizmo.

Gizmo dodged to one side or the other, getting closer to Spike.

Gizmo leaped and shoulder checked Spike through the kitchen window into the outside. Gizmo landed in the sink under the running faucet.

"No!" yelled Billy, but it was too late.

Gizmo lay screaming in pain in the sink. Billy turned the water off and looked out the window. Spike was gone.

A large bubble formed on Gizmo's back, he yelled and screamed and pounded the sink in agony. The bubble, as large as Gizmo's back now, popped off and landed on the floor at Rand's feet.

"Only one?" Isn't there supposed to be more?" Rand asked.

"Dad, your gun!" Billy yelled.

Rand pulled his gun and aimed it at the growing ball. The ball was completely white fur. It grew to the size of a beach ball then stopped. It yawned and stretched, stood up, it was at least four feet tall, and it was a mogwai, a huge white mogwai.

"Well call me Ishmael." Rand said. "Should I shoot it, Billy?"

"I have no idea." Billy answered.

Gizmo stood up and jumped down in front of Rand, protecting the creature behind him.

"Gizmo seems to like him." Kate said.

With that Rand lowered his gun. They walked back into the living room.


	9. Chapter 9

GREMLINS

In the living room they stood over Mr. Futterman's body.

"He was a good man, and a good friend." Rand said.

"He saved our lives on more than one occasion, he deserves our respect." Billy said.

Kate remained silent, crying. Gizmo stood over him, a solemn , grave expression on his face. They laid Murray's body in Rand's room. Billy and Rand came back into the living room, Kate was sitting and watching Gizmo talk with the newly hatched giant white mogwai.

"Wow, what language is that they're speaking?" asked Billy.

"I don't know, it's not like anything I've ever heard." Rand said.

They watched a while longer.

"I think they're discussing what to do next." said Kate.

"We need to go get those last two before they reach water, if they haven't already. It's only 3:00 , they still have a lot of time before dawn comes and they have to hole up somewhere." Billy said.

Gizmo and the mogwai had stopped to talk for a minute. Rand told Billy to ask Gizmo what the newcomer's name was. Gizmo thought for a minute then said with a smile, "Moby."

Rand was on the phone trying to contact the police when Billy interrupted him.

"I don't know why your calling the cops, Dad. You know how much help they were last time."

"Well they should know better by now. And plus, it's our responsibility to tell them about Murray." Rand said.

"Your right Dad."

Rand tried a couple of times then hung up.

"Their phone is dead, but ours isn't."

"What does that mean?" Billy asked.

"I think it means the gremlins are on the outskirts of town. Out there they run different phone lines than this part of town."

"Are you sure?"

"It's as good a place as any to start looking for them, let's go."

Kate was packing her stuff when Billy came in.

"Don't worry about it honey." Billy said.

"I just checked the car and the engine had been shredded."

"Then what do I do?" Kate asked.

"The safest thing for you now is to just stay here. Me and Dad think the gremlins are on the outside of town, we're gonna go track them down now. The phones here are still working, so I'm gonna take your cell phone since I lost mine. I'll call you if anything goes wrong."

"Okay baby, be careful. I don't want to raise this child by myself."

"You won't have to, I'll be fine. Anyway, Gizmo and Moby look like they could take on a whole army by themselves."

Kate saw them off. She kissed Billy goodbye and hugged Rand. She told Gizmo to take care of them both, gizmo nodded. She looked at Moby for a second, then got down on her knees and hugged him. Rand and Billy looked at each other, shocked. She got up and looked back at them,

"According to the book, Gremlins and Mogwai have genetic memory.

Which means that everything Gizmo knows and remembers, so does Moby."

They looked at her dumb founded.

"Does that mean all those other gremlins had the same memories as Gizmo?" Rand asked.

"Most likely, and these ones too." Kate said.

"Somehow that makes sense now that I think about it." Billy said.

With that knowledge they left, heading for the outskirts of town as fast as they could. When they got there they did a double take, the place looked destroyed. The roads were empty except for the lifeless corpses of cars. It looked like the town did that night 21 years earlier. Gizmo and Moby walked in front of Billy and Rand, keeping a careful eye out for anything that moved. Gizmo's head whipped to the side and he darted off, Moby followed him.

"Where are they going?" asked Rand.

"Looks like they're heading for the gym, come on." Billy said as they started to run after Moby and Gizmo. They walked into the gym, it looked like a normal Gold's gym. Exercise machines and weight racks covered the floor, with locker room in the back. But here, there was a large boxing ring in the middle of the building. Goatee was in the boxing ring , shadow boxing, throwing fake punches at an invisible opponent. Spike was off to the left of the ring lifting a 50lb dumbbell with one arm. Spike noticed them first and threw the weight at Moby, who took the hit on his chest, he stood there unphased by the blow. Gizmo rushed over to fight Spike while Moby jumped in the ring with Goatee.

"Looks like we're gonna have to sit this fight out , Billy. Rand said.

Moby walked up to Goatee, who was dancing around with his guard up. Moby cocked his head and looked at him like he was stupid. Goatee moved toward Moby, still dancing, Moby quickly delivered a right hook that sent Goatee flying back to hit the bell.

"Let the fight begin." Billy said.

Gizmo was fighting Spike, who was using weights and bars as weapons. Spike picked up a curling bar and held it like a baseball bat. Gizmo ran toward him. Spike swung the bar but Gizmo caught it with one hand and ripped it away from him. Gizmo took the bar and jabbed Spike in the belly with it. Spike crumpled to the ground grabbing his stomach. Goatee jumped back up and rushed Moby, pounding him with fist after fist. Moby blocked and dodged and threw punches of his own when he could , but Goatee was slightly faster than him. Moby got goatee in a bear hug with his arms pinned down. Goatee tried to use his bony chin spikes to stab at Moby's eyes but Moby dodged his head from side to side. Moby delivered a head butt to Goatee and he fell to the ground. Moby picked him up over his head and threw him as hard as he could against the wall of the gym. Goatee hit the wall and slid down temporarily dazed. Gizmo picked up Spike from behind and started to choke him with the curling bar. Spike fought back, twisting and turning, trying to get loose , but secretly he was raising his tail, getting ready to poison Gizmo. Billy saw this and yelled,

"Gizmo, lookout for his tail!"

Gizmo dodged just in time and grabbed Spike's tail, but Spike turned around fast and slugged Gizmo hard.

Gizmo fell to the ground, letting go of Spike's tail. Spike took this advantage and stuck Gizmo with his tail.

"No!" yelled Billy.

All this time Moby had been moving toward them. He picked up a 100 lb dumbbell in one had and ran at Spike. Moby punched Spike so hard with that dumbbell that it left a permanent dent on Spike's face. Spike went flying and hit the wall next to Goatee. Goatee woke form his daze and was the unconscious Spike next to him. He grabbed Spike by the tail and ran with him out of the gym. Billy ran over to Gizmo and Moby.

"Gizmo! Gizmo, are you ok?" Billy said.

Gizmo was laying on his back breathing shallowly, his eyes just barely open.

"There's nothing we can do for him right now Billy, we have to go get Spike and Goatee, now! I think I know where they are headed, and it ain't good." Rand said.

"Okay, Dad." Billy said.

"Wait a minute, oh god, you don't think they're headed to the lake do you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Damnit, alright, let's go." Billy said as he picked up Gizmo like a child in one arm while reaching into his pocket and grabbing the cell phone with his other hand.


	10. Chapter 10

GREMLINS

Billy dialed as they ran following Goatee's tracks in the snow where he dragged Spike. The call went through.

"Hi Kate….Oh, not so good, Gizmo got poisoned by Spike, I need you to look through the book and see if there's anything that can help him…Ok….Not yet, Dad, Moby and I are following Goatee right now. We think he's headed for the lake…..Yeah, I know, listen I'll have to talk to you late, just get looking for something that can save Gizmo, alright, love you too. bye." With that Billy ended the call. On the other end of the line Kate hung up.

"The lake." she said to herself thinking.

She picked the phone back up and started to dial another number. Billy and Rand were still on the tail of Goatee when they cam to the edge of the woods that encircled the lake. Billy stopped and moved Gizmo from his arms to his backpack. Gizmo was too big to fit in there now, his head and shoulders poked out of the top of the bag. When he was done they set off in to the woods.

Sam sat quietly in his tree stand watching a ten point buck through his rifle's scope. He had been following this deer's movements all night and he finally had a clear shot at it. The deer's head popped up and looked directly at Sam, it turned and ran off in the opposite direction.

"No, no, no!" yelled Sam "Damnit."

He looked through the scope for any signs of more deer. At that moment Goatee's head appeared right in front of Sam's scope Sam yelled and toppled out of his 15 foot high tree stand. He hit the ground and vibrated there. Billy, Rand and Moby came upon him laying on the ground. Billy helped him up.

"Are you Ok?" asked Billy.

"I think so." said Sam.

Then he noticed Moby.

"Ah!, What the hell kind of dog walks on tow legs?"

"Well, um, Have you heard of ClampCorp?" Billy said.

Sam's expression changed.

"Say no more, I know all about the freaky genetic stuff they did there. Hey is that what the thing is I just saw?" Sam asked.

"Uh, maybe.

"Which way did it go, can you tell us?"

"Yeah sure, it went that way."

He pointed toward the lake. Billy sighed and said,

"You need to get out of here right now, something very bad is about to happen."

"Right." Sam said.

"I saw what happened at ClampCorp on TV. I'm outta here."

He ran off without another word.

They ran as hard as they could toward the lake, fear driving their legs. They burst out from the trees, they saw Goatee standing on the lake pounding on the ice, Spike laying at his side. The lake was still frozen over, and Goatee couldn't get through the ice. They breathed a sigh of relief, but Moby was still running full speed. Goatee looked up and saw him, he grabbed Spike and ran across the lake toward a small shack on the ice. Moby reached the shack seconds after Goatee, but he was too late. Goatee stood over an open hole in the ice, he tool Spike by the tail and tossed him into the ice. Goatee looked at Moby and laughed. Moby charged him and tackled him through the wall of the shack. Billy started to run out on the ice but Rand stopped him.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Rand said and pointed at the ice under the shack. The water started to boil and turn colors. Steam poured out of the door of the shack.

"Oh no" Billy said helplessly.

Moby and Goatee fought out on the ice, trading punches and kicks. Underneath tem the ice began to crack and they could see the faces of thousands of gremlins. Billy screamed in pain as something passed by and burnt his shoulder.

"Ah! What the hell is that?" he yelled.

A straight line of light moved toward the lake. Billy and Rand watched it.

"Where is it coming from?" asked Billy.

They craned their necks skyward and looked as far as they could see.

"Really high up." replied Rand.

Moby and Goatee were still fighting on the ice when the beam of light came across the lake, cutting a line in the ice. The ice beneath them tilted and they fell in. Very little water was left , it was replaced by the claws and teeth of thousands of gremlins. The beam stopped in the middle of the lake, it hovered there for a second then began to grow. The light spread slowly out in a circle covering more and more of the lake. Billy and Rand, who had been watching the terrible scene helplessly, let their jaws drop.

"It's sunlight." Billy said, confused and astonished.

"But dawn doesn't come for another hour."

"This ain't no ordinary sunlight, Billy". Rand said.

"I have a feeling somebody is looking out for us."

The light had fully encompassed the lake, Billy had to step back to keep Gizmo away from it. The lake had been turned into a retention pond of Gremlin sludge, it bubbled and churned, and sent up a foul stinking reek. Rand looked at the putrid slurry.

"Moby," he said.

Billy grabbed Rand's shoulder.

"We still have time to save Gizmo, come on."

They turned and started back for the house, Billy got out his cell phone.

"Hey Honey, everything's taken care of…..wait, how do you know?….Alright, alright, you'll just have to explain it when we get there. Tell me you've found something that can help Gizmo…Really? Okay, see you in a little while, bye." He hung up.

"What did she say?" Rand asked.

"We have to stop somewhere on the way home."

"Where?"

"The grocery store."

"Damnit, I hate grocery store,"

Back at the house they were feeding a barely conscious Gizmo a block of tofu. They had him laid down in his own bed, covered up. Gizmo ate the Bean Curd and went to sleep.

Billy went downstairs with Rand and Kate in the living room.

"Honey?" Billy said.

"Yes." replied Kate

"What did you do?"

"Oh, I just made a little phone call."

"To who?"

"To our boss, Mr. Clamp."

"And what did you talk about?"

"Well, after he made a bunch of small towns like Kingston Falls around the world, I remember him telling me about some crazy idea to always have it daytime in his towns using mirrored satellites.

"You're kidding me." Billy said.

"Nope. Well obviously that idea didn't work out, but the satellites are still up there."

Billy and Rand jumped up and saw Moby. His white fur was covered in black and green sludge, but even more amazing was that he was standing in broad daylight.

"I guess he's immune to more than just water." Rand said.

They brought Moby in and cleaned him up, restoring his white fur. Later that night Gizmo hatched from his furry cocoon, back to his original self. Three months later they were sitting in the living room watching TV. Moby sat on the couch, with Gizmo sitting on his shoulder. Moby was eating chips and he handed one up to Gizmo. There was a knock at the door. Rand answered it, at the doorstep were 3 Tibetan Monks.

"Hello, fellas." Rand said. "What can I do for you gentleman?"

"We've come for the large white one." one replied.

Billy walked up,

"Well that would be up to him." He turned, "Moby, you have some visitors." he called.

Moby came and studied the Monks.

He walked toward them slowly, raising his hand as if in acceptance, then shut the door in their faces. Moby walked back to the couch and continued watching TV.

"Well, I guess that's that" Billy said.


End file.
